The Rising Sun
by DaughterOfPan
Summary: What if Namikaze Minato and Uzumaki Kushina had a girl instead of a boy? What would it change? Apparently, very nearly everything. Rating is because I don't know what it'll end up. So far, it's pretty K, but just to be on the safe side.
1. Chapter 1

Summary: What if Namikaze Minato and Uzumaki Kushina had a girl instead of a boy? What would it change? Apparently, very nearly everything.

A/N: Right! So, this is my first story, you have no idea who I am, if my writing is any good, or even if you care, so let me start off by explaining a few things to those of you who don't skip the authors notes.

The premise of this entire story is "What if Namikaze Minato and Uzumaki Kushina had had a girl instead of a boy?" I am answering this question as I believe it would happen.

Disclaimer: If I owned Naruto, I'd have written myself into it as Shino's girlfriend by now.

Uzumaki Koiru may be only three years old, and maybe her cognitive functions were not fully developed yet, but she was smart enough to understand the concept of opposites. And in the past few hours, she had experienced quite a few.

She had been playing alone, per usual, outside the orphanage where she lived, when an especially inebriated man had wandered up and began insulting her. It was something she was used to, something she took in stride. She didn't quite understand what compelled her to ignore him and continue her game rather than go inside to safety. It had something to do with winning...

When he realized that he was being brushed off by a three-year-old, he got angry. He held his empty sake bottle in a manner that Koiru recognized as threatening. She dropped her game, but held her ground, now giving him her undivided attention.

"What are you, stupid?" he had asked, making a clumsy swing at her while he was still out of range.

She only glared in reply, unaware that a glare from a three year old was not exactly the most threatening thing in the world.

Meanwhile, the man stumbled nearer, raising the bottle for an actual hit.

Suddenly, Koiru was surrounded by ANBU, and the drunk was in a choke hold on the ground.

One of the ANBU bent down in front of her and asked kindly, "Are you alright?"

She nodded in reply.

"We're going to take you to see the Hokage, ok?"

Another nod.

They arrived at Hokage Tower, and Koiru sat quietly in a chair at the Hokage's desk while he and the ANBU had a discussion, looking curiously around the room and taking comfort in the familiar surroundings. She always had a distinct sense of safeness while in the presence of the Hokage, whom she viewed as a surrogate grandfather. He too asked her kindly if she was alright, and after receiving a nod and just a bit of a smile, he gave her a comforting hug and sent her back to the orphanage with an ANBU escort.

Now she was sitting on her bed back at the orphanage, idly twirling her red hair around a finger, big blue eyes narrowed in concentration, thinking. Thinking, more specifically, about opposites. First she was in danger, and then she had been safe. First things had been confusing and uncertain, and then she had assurance. The drunken man, who she had certainly never seen before in her life, had seemed to hate her, while the Hokage, who she had always known, cared for her very much. She was trying very hard to figure out just what exactly caused people to feel two such different extremes about the same person.

It seemed to her that most people she didn't know hated her, though she couldn't fathom why. She hadn't done anything that bad, had she? It also seemed that the very few people who didn't hate her, namely the Hokage, were the most powerful, the most important, and the most caring people she knew. Maybe they liked her because they cared too much? But she discarded that theory quickly. There was simply no such thing.

And then she noticed it. All the people who didn't hate her knew her. All the people who did hate her didn't know her. Her young mind struggled to work it out. As best as she could tell, they didn't like her because they didn't know if she was a good person or not, and they didn't give her a chance to prove herself either way. That wasn't fair. She swore to herself then and there that she would never do such a thing to anyone as long as she lived. Everyone deserved a chance to prove themselves. No matter what.

It was three years later. Uzumaki Koiru had grown from an energetic, outgoing, observant toddler to a brash and insatiably curious child with quite a sense of adventure, that never let anything bring her down.

She had remained mostly an enigma to those who bothered to pay her any attention and knew her past. She didn't seem to hold any grudge based on the way people treated her, despite the fact that they had no good reason. Really, she didn't seem to react at all, or if anything, she became more lively than she already was. The Hokage often wondered just what she was feeling underneath it all. Crippling depression? Boiling hatred? He liked to think she was just a happy child, but he knew better than that.

The other children seemed to avoid her like the flu. First because their parents told them to, and eventually because she was… different. When the rest of the girls were playing dress up with their dolls, she could invariably be found sitting alone near a fallen log, digging for bugs, lizards, or interesting rocks, or else on an unmoving swing just watching the other children go about their business, as if deciphering their foreign rituals.

When they came to her, they did so only to ridicule, and she met their attempts with smiles and offers of friendship. This utterly illogical reaction tended to make them leave without much more hassle.

She had, on multiple occasions, been the one to go to them, asking if she could join their game, or even just saying hi. She had received reactions ranging from being ignored to the others simply leaving.

She had eventually determined that people, especially girls, were far more vicious in groups than on their own. Girls who would simply ignore her if they happened to pass on their own would tease her mercilessly when they had a friend or two with them.

So, as she sat on her swing, she began to look around carefully, so that no one would notice. She spotted a girl who happened to be playing on her own. She had short, dark blue hair and solid white eyes. Koiru had never seen her before.

She sidled up to her nonchalantly. When the girl noticed her, her eyes got wide and she prepared to bolt – but Koiru had given her a trademark beam, and then plopped down a little away and started playing in the sand. Not quite intruding, leaving it up to the other girl to decide if she joined or not, but asserting that she was at least there. After a few moments, the girl had scooted a few feet closer to Koiru and threw her a shy glance. Koiru beamed even wider in response. It had all been going quite well, until a man who also had solid white eyes and long black hair walked up and, shooting Koiru a threatening glare, scooped up the other girl into his arms and carried her away.

She had seen the girl once or twice since, but had always received a frightened, if apologetic, expression, and had decided to leave her alone.

And so she grew up with her only friends being the Hokage and a few masked ANBU. There were very few things the Hokage knew about her. Among them were that she had a tomboy streak a mile wide, and she was obsessed with adventure. So why, _why_, had it surprised him when, upon entering for their weekly catching up, the first words out of her mouth were, "Hokage-ojisan, can you tell me where I sign up for the ninja academy?"

He simply hadn't known enough about her to gauge what sort of career path she would be interested in. Thinking back, it seemed that her wanting to be a ninja was the most obvious and natural thing in the world. With her parents being who they were, how could she _not?_

And so he helped her through the process of getting enrolled at the academy, hoping against hope that she didn't drop out for any reason.

Koiru was elated. She had gone to the Hokage and asked him how to become a ninja, expecting some contrived reason why it would be a bad idea for her to do so from the usually overprotective old man. Probably something about too dangerous or risky or some other such nonsense. But she was pleasantly surprised when he ended up personally guiding her through the process of registering.

She was going to be a ninja now. She was going to have adventures. She was going to help people. She was going to have the chance to prove herself to everyone. She was going to be a _ninja_!

No. No, she would not become _a_ ninja. She would become _the best_ ninja. She would become… the first female Hokage!

Things were changing. She could feel it. It was time for change. _Big _change. If people weren't going to accept her on their own, she would make them. She would show the world just exactly who she was.

She was Uzumaki Koiru, orphaned, hated by most, and as confident as the rising sun.

The first day of academy had been… interesting to say the least.

She had dressed in her new clothes which she bought specifically for the occasion, which consisted of a bright orange fishnet shirt over a black tank top, black boy's shorts, sandals, and goggles strapped to her head. She didn't know why she would need goggles, but they had looked cool and she'd had just enough left to buy them.

In her excitement she had arrived almost an hour early, to find only the teacher, a young man named Iruka. He had smiled kindly, if a bit sadly, at her, and told her to pick a seat wherever she liked. At first, she'd wanted to sit right up front, so she could see and hear everything Iruka did and said very clearly. But then she thought, 'What would a ninja do?', which was of course sit in the back corner by the window so she could watch everyone and have a quick escape rout. Eventually, her curiosity won, and she settled for the seat closest to the door so she could observe everyone arrive.

It didn't take long.

In the end, there were quite a few, but there were those who stood out above the rest. Like the first person to arrive. It was a boy, with black hair and black eyes, and an air of determination about him to rival her own. He moved to sit in the back corner farthest from her, by the window. He would be one to look out for.

After a smattering of uninteresting children came in, someone arrived whom she was very shocked to see. It was the blue-haired, white-eyed girl who had almost been her friend. She was blushing furiously and twiddling her fingers in a decidedly nervous manner. This girl was a wreck. Koiru quickly motioned that she should take the seat next to her. The expression on the girl's face went momentarily to terrified, and then became more nervous than before. Koiru knew she was remembering whatever her father had said to make her stay away. The girl hung her head in shame and moved to a seat in the back row.

Koiru didn't blame her. She knew if _she_ had a parent, she'd probably listen to everything they told her too.

Then came a boy who had covered every inch of himself in clothing, right down to pitch black sunglasses that you couldn't see his eyes behind. He too took a seat in the back row, directly behind Koiru.

There was now a steady stream of new arrivals, and only one or two every so often seemed especially interesting. Like a boy who came in with and adorable puppy sitting on his head who took a seat smack in the middle of the room.

Then two girls came in together, one with blonde hair and the other with pink. They were chatting amiably and took a seat in the row behind Koiru, but on the other side of the room. She recognized them vaguely as people who had been part of the groups that would make fun of her.

And lastly, two boys came in together, one looking half asleep, the other steadily munching a bag of chips. The one eating looked nice enough, but she immediately pegged the other boy as lazy and unlikely to make it very far in the academy. They took seats in the back middle, and then it seemed as if everyone was there.

The teacher began speaking. "Hello, class! My name is Iruka-sensei, and along with Mizuki-sensei, who does not feel well today, I will be teaching you! Welcome to your first day of ninja academy!"

And with that, he went off on the usual reel of 'being a ninja is hard work' and 'glory isn't significant to ninja' and 'teamwork is always the most important thing'. Koiru listened with rapt attention, committing every word to memory. After an introductory speech that lasted most of the morning, the kids were released for lunch and told to come back in an hour for the last half of class.

Koiru realized then that she had neglected to pack a lunch in her excitement that morning. She wandered out to where all the other kids were eating, stomach rumbling uncomfortably. Looking around, she saw that almost everyone was eating with someone, with the exceptions of the blue haired girl and the boy with the black glasses. She was just considering how best to approach the latter of the two, when a man with shoulder length silver hair entered the grounds heading towards the building.

Koiru watched him curiously, thinking that perhaps he was this Mizuki that Iruka-sensei had mentioned. As he reached the door, he paused, and turned to look directly at her, as if he had sensed her watching him. She realized he probably had. Maybe she was imagining it, but he seemed to be giving her a look of utmost hatred. It was something she was used to, but she hadn't been expecting it from someone who was supposed to be teaching her.

Lost in thought, she forgot all about trying to make friends and wandered off to her favorite swing for the rest of lunch.

The rest of class was a blur which distracted her from the appearance of their second teacher. They were supposed to make little posters with their names and their interests and little illustrations which they then tacked to the walls around the classroom. Koiru was fascinated learning about her classmates, though not many people went to see her poster.

When they got dismissed she decided to treat herself to her favorite meal, ramen, at her favorite ramen stand. The Ichiraku Ramen Bar. It was run by a friendly old man and his daughter, who had always been kind to Koiru and never refused her business, unlike some places in Konoha.

As she took a seat at the bar, Teuchi, the man who owned and ran the place, looked over and shouted, "The usual?"

"You bet!" Koiru shouted right back. Soon enough, three steaming bowls of miso ramen were placed in front of her, and she dug in.

"Well, you seem more cheerful than usual," Teuchi chatted as he cooked. "Any particular reason?"

"I started at the academy today!" Koiru somehow managed to say through her non-stop ramen intake.

"Well! That is something! And you know, I think this calls for a celebration, eh? Your ramen's on the house tonight!"

Koiru gave him a glowing look. This was indeed the beginning of good things.

A/N: It seems like there's so much I want to put in here, but can't. Or rather, if I do it seems like too much, but if I don't some things don't make as much sense as I'd like. Hmm…

Yes, I gave her red hair. See the pic (link below) that I became too attached to. I just had to. Besides, Naruto's mom had red hair. And I don't care if blond is a dominant gene over red!

If you want a clearer view of what she looks like, here's the pic I'm thinking of:

.

I didn't draw it and I don't know who did. But credit goes to them.

On an unrelated note, oh dramatic irony… how I love you so. A cookie to the first person to point it out.

So there's chapter one! Now run along and tell me how terrible it is.


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: Ok, so I re-wrote chapter one from the original which was posted ages ago. And then I tried to re-write what I had of chapter two, and then I watched the first episode about twenty times to write the rest of it. You'll be able to tell what chapters of episodes I didn't like writing because they'll take forever and then suck. _ Sorry about that.

Disclaimer: If I owned Naruto, Sasuke wouldn't STILL be being a douche bag.

It had been an eventful five years looking back, to say the least. Koiru was sitting at Ichiraku's, occasion being that tomorrow she would graduate and become a fully fledged ninja, reminiscing about her time at the academy.

First and foremost, she had a friend. True, she now had a few friendly acquaintances, but Hyuuga Hinata, shy, demure, intelligent, was the best friend of Uzumaki Koiru, outgoing, loud, and bursting with confidence. Her father had, while still not approving very much, at least managed to see some benefits in letting them spend time together. Koiru liked to help people, and Hinata had needed her help. When they first met, she'd had no self confidence to speak of. Koiru firmly blamed her family, but refrained from calling them jerks (and worse) in front of Hinata. It would not do to upset her, after all. But over the years, they had trained, talked, and laughed together, and Hinata had slowly but surely gained confidence as their friendship steadily grew.

Hinata had, in their training, passed Koiru in almost every field. Hinata had her family Taijutsu, at which she excelled with Koiru's help, while Koiru had only the academy basics. Hinata had the best chakra control of any of the soon to be genin in their class, while Koiru had probably the worst. Neither of them were great shakes at Genjutsu, and Ninjutsu had been not much explored. Not to mention she had her kekkei gekai, while as far as Koiru knew, she was just a generic ninja. In fact the only areas in which Koiru beat Hinata were overall strength, stamina, and amount of chakra. They were about the same speed, which was pretty amazing considering the Hyuuga had to be incredibly fast for their fighting style. Koiru even had trouble with the academy jutsu sometimes, thanks to her poor chakra control.

However, Hinata was not the person Koiru was interested in besting. Not too long into the academy, Uchiha Sasuke had caught Koiru's eye, and not in quite the same way he did most girls. She had pegged him as someone to look out for on the first day, and she was right. He was a veritable genius. He was easily the top of their class, and spent more time training than Koiru and Hinata, which was saying something. Every girl their age, besides them, seemed to have a huge crush on him. In their second year of academy, his entire family had been slaughtered by his older brother, who was now an S-class missing Nin. Koiru had felt unimaginable sorrow for him. She knew what it was like to be alone in the world, but at least for her it had always been like that. He had known what life could be and had it horrifically taken from him. But if he had pursued one goal with single-minded intensity before, he was a machine now. If he had been apathetic and condescending before, now he was brooding and arrogant, caring only to gain more and more power. And while Koiru still pitied him, she also greatly disliked him. What happened to him was awful and totally out of his control, but only he could control his reaction to it. And in her opinion, he could have had a better one.

So she had decided, for a number of reasons, that he would be her rival. She would strive to surpass him in all areas, and compete with him as often as possible. She decided she ought to inform him, and when she did so, his only reaction was a mixture of unreadable emotions in his expression before he went back to ignoring her and everyone else. However, she had gotten quite a vocal reaction out of Sakura. _"_You _are going to be _Sasuke-kun's _rival? But you're a _girl!_" _That had sparked an argument.

"_Your _point_ being?" Koiru snarled. _

"_Girls can't compete with _boys. _We aren't as strong or fast or smart as they are," Sakura stated matter-of-factly. _

_Koiru was on the verge of murder. "Well. Well, maybe _YOU _aren't, but _I _am going to be the smartest, fastest, strongest ninja in the world some day. And I dare anyone to tell me I can't just because I'm female!" She finished, stomping off to destroy a few training dummies. _

_Unbeknownst to all present, after that tirade, Sasuke had taken her seriously as a rival. _

The final defining happening of the academy could not be pinned down to one moment, but had occurred over the entirety of it. She had found, in Iruka-sensei, yet another surrogate family member – that of the over-protective older brother. He had been one of the few people to give her a chance to prove herself, and for that she had already liked and respected him. Over time, they got closer and closer until one day she realized that she considered him family. That made two.

"Hey, Koiru, you okay?"

The voice of Ayame brought Koiru out of her reminiscing.

"I've never seen you sit still in front of a bowl full of ramen for so long," she continued, smiling.

Ok, make that four. Teuchi and Ayame were something like uncle and cousin to her. Smiling right back at her "cousin", Koiru dug in, resolving to get a good nights sleep as soon as she was done.

Koiru was jittery the morning of the final exam, to say the least. She had never had nerves this bad in her life. It was all she could do not to jump at the slightest noise. Hinata was rubbing off on her. She tried to eat a good breakfast, but all she managed get down was a piece of toast.

Having forced herself not to leave early, Koiru walked sedately down the streets of Konoha, firmly ignoring the looks of the villagers who were avoiding her like the flu.

That was something she had left out of her reminiscings of the previous evening. Before she had been attending the academy, the villagers had seemed plenty willing to simply ignore her, which had suited her fine. But ever since she had enrolled, their abuse rose dramatically. Jeering, goading, attempted assault. She avoided going out after dark at all costs.

Her thoughts were broken when, halfway down her back alley shortcut, she fell flat on her face.

Looking up, she saw that one of three older boys leaning against the alley wall had his foot stuck out. She couldn't believe she had been paying so little attention that that would work on her.

"Pretty clumsy for a ninja, isn't she, boys?"

Glaring, Koiru stood and dusted herself off, saying nothing, but tapping her foot expectantly.

"What, freak? Is there something you wanted?" the leader jeered.

"An apology," Koiru replied, utterly serious.

"Why you presumptuous-" he began, approaching her with a raised fist, goons trailing behind him like a snail's slime.

A few moments later, Koiru walked a bit too calmly out of the alley, pursued by a call of, "Monster!" from the boy nursing a bloody nose.

When she felt she was safely out of sight of the alleyway, she took to the rooftops, now worried about being late. Perhaps showing up early would not have been such a bad idea after all.

She landed in front of the academy doors just barely in time, and walked inside to find her class lined up in the hallway in alphabetical order. She waved quickly to Hinata before taking her place in the line. The wait seemed to take ages as they were called in one at a time for their tests, and once they went in, they didn't come back out, so Koiru had no way of knowing if Hinata had passed or not; but she was confident in her friend.

Koiru's anxiety was worse than ever, and she could not get the incident in the alleyway to leave her thoughts.

She flinched when the door opened and her name was called. She walked nervously to the center of the room and waited.

"Hello, Koiru," Iruka said, breaking the silence. Despite his friendly tone and the familiar face, she could not shake the feeling that this would not go well. And the image of the bloody nose of the boy in the alley swam vaguely through her mind.

"Koiru, the jutsu you will need to perform in order to pass the exam is the shadow clone jutsu. You must make at least three successful copies of yourself," Mizuki said, voice utterly emotionless.

"Hai," Koiru responded, making the ram seal and gathering her chakra. But she still couldn't concentrate.

"Shadow Clone Jutsu!" she shouted, and there was a poof of smoke on either side of her. When it cleared, she could see that she had made one satisfactory clone, and one… well, it wasn't pretty. It looked like someone who had never seen a human had tried to make a marionette.

There was a short pause.

"Well… I'm sorry Koiru, but you have not met the requirements for passing this exam. But you can try again next year!" Iruka said, trying his best to be encouraging, but he could tell she was devastated. She simply nodded and walked out of the room, unaware of where her feet were taking her. She didn't really care.

Koiru sat on the balcony of her tiny apartment, all cried out, watching the sun set on the worst day of her life, when Iruka jumped up next to her. She was too upset to be startled. After a moment, he spoke.

"I'm so sorry Koiru. I know how much becoming a ninja means to you. But… you'll pass next year," he said, clearly trying to be as comforting as possible.

"Yeah… next year…" she sniffled in reply. The look on her face made it clear that she thought her whole world – her hopes, her dreams – had been crushed in one fell swoop.

"I can't stand seeing you this upset, Koiru," Iruka sighed. "…I'm not technically supposed to tell you this, but there's a scroll in Hokage tower. And in that scroll, there are instructions on how to easily make shadow clones. If you can get the scroll, and take it into the forest, I'll meet you there and help you learn it, and then you can retake the test tomorrow!"

"A-are you s-serious?" she stuttered, half believing she was hallucinating, and making a mental note to kick Hinata's butt at their next training session.

"Are you serious about becoming a ninja?"

Koiru thought for a moment. Then nodded, and was gone.

'Iruka' chuckled darkly to himself, then did a half ram seal. There was a puff of smoke, and Iruka turned into Mizuki. "It's so easy to trick them when they think they can trust you…"

As Koiru jumped from tree to tree in the now dark forest, she wondered vaguely at how easy it had been. It was almost just a determined blur, but she suspected it had a lot to do with luck and people being used to her presence in the tower. She fought back the pangs of guilt that were threatening to turn her around. There were dozens of reasons why this was ok. She had worked so hard, she deserved to become a ninja. She'd never be Hokage if she failed. Iruka sensei wouldn't tell her to do anything truly horrible. No, this was as it should be.

She reached the agreed upon forest clearing, and found herself alone. Maybe Iruka sensei had stayed late to grade last minute homework. Seeing no point in being idle, she got to work reading the scroll herself…

Meanwhile, the real Iruka had been having dinner with the Hokage. He liked to get frequent updates on Koiru's progress, and Iruka had always been happy to oblige. After the talk they had had back when Koiru had first joined the academy about how much she and Iruka had in common, Iruka had tried his best to be there for her, without showing too much favoritism.

They had been discussing her failure to pass and what they could do about it. They knew why chakra control was so difficult for her – the sheer amount she contained in that tiny body, and the fact that not all of it was hers, but belonged to the demon fox, meant it would take some serious training for her to ever be able to control it. The problem was, she needed a proper sensei to train with, and she couldn't get that stuck at the academy. There had to be something they could do…

After a while of fruitless brainstorming, they were interrupted by a masked ANBU.

"Hokage-sama! The Scroll of Sealing has been stolen! Mizuki says he witnessed Uzumaki Koiru carrying it into the forest and went directly after her himself!"

Iruka was too confused to form coherent sentences. "Koiru? Mizuki? Buh… wha?"

The Hokage was a bit more collected. "Iruka, I want you to follow them immediately and make sure Koiru and the scroll are safe. ANBU, gather your team and follow him as soon as you can. I want everyone back here and unharmed as soon as possible".

Though mildly confused, they both nodded and poofed away.

The Hokage, finding himself alone, smiled. "This may be exactly what we needed…"

Iruka, worn out and panicking, had finally managed to locate Koiru. He was mildly surprised when he found her in a clearing with the scroll on her back, worn out and sweaty, apparently taking a break. He hadn't though Mizuki could have been telling the truth. He jumped down next to her.

"Koiru!"

"Iruka sensei! You didn't forget. I've already started learning the first jutsu. In fact, I think I already have it!" she said excitedly, though she did not stand up.

"Forget? Forget what? Koiru, why would you take the scroll out of Hokage Tower? The jutsu on it are dangerous and secret! That scroll is full of forbidden jutsu!"Iruka looked as though he was going to continue reprimanding her, but instead he pushed her to the side and whirled around, and suddenly was full of kunai. Luckily, as it turned out, Mizuki was a lousy aim.

"Give me that scroll, Koiru. Or say goodbye to your sensei," Mizuki, standing on a tree branch, pulled a giant shuriken off his back as he said this. He may be a lousy aim, but with a shuriken that big, she didn't think it would be a problem.

Koiru was completely confused.

"Don't give him that scroll, Koiru. I'll be fine," Iruka ordered calmly, although he was breathing heavily. "Mizuki tricked you to get it. You mustn't do as he says".

Koiru thought back to one of the last jutsu they had learned at the academy. The transformation technique. And it all made sense. She felt like an idiot. Iruka would never tell her to steal, what on earth had she been thinking? She had just been so desperate to pass…

"It's Iruka who's trying to trick you, Koiru. He's only nice to you so he can keep an eye on you. He's afraid of you having that scroll," Mizuki called from his perch. "I will tell you the truth. The thing that you alone are not allowed to find out about".

"Mizuki, no!" Iruka sounded less calm now.

Koiru didn't trust Mizuki over Iruka for a second, but there was something about the look in Mizuki's eyes and the panic in Iruka's voice that kept her rooted to the spot.

"After the demon fox attack twelve years ago, a law was created. The law said that no one was allowed to talk about Koiru Uzumaki being a monster fox. Yes. You, Koiru, are the nine tailed fox that killed Iruka's parents, and nearly destroyed our village".

There was a short silence. Then Koiru said quietly, "You're full of shit".

She was honestly trying to think about it. It made no sense. I made perfect sense. It explained a lot. I didn't explain anything. That train of thought was making her brain hurt, so she thought about what he'd said concerning Iruka instead. That was definitely wrong. Even if, somehow, impossibly, she was the demon fox, and she had killed his parents, Iruka was not just pretending to be her surrogate brother.

Iruka had many reactions to her statement (the urge to laugh, the urge to tell her to watch her language, the urge to hug her…), but mostly he was relieved he didn't need to convince her to trust him. It meant he could focus on getting them both to safety while bleeding profusely.

Mizuki just smirked. "Did you never wonder why everyone in the village hated you so much? So who are you going to give the scroll to. The man who lied to you your entire life, or the one who just told you the truth?"

"…well I'm not giving it to you if that's what you mean".

Mizuki had been so sure that would work. Now his entire plan had been ruined. And he was not happy about it. He flung his giant shuriken, not at Iruka, but at Koiru. "DIE!"

Koiru, stunned, knew she turned to run too late. She heard Iruka say something about ducking, and promptly collapsed into the fetal position. There was a sickening crunch and she opened her eyes. Iruka had thrown himself over her to block the ridiculous weapon. With his spine. 'Oh my god,' Koiru thought, 'Iruka sensei is going to die and it's all my fault. No wonder I didn't graduate, I can't even dodge that thing. Now I'll never be a ninja and Iruka will be dead. Oh god, what have I done?'

"I-iruka…?" He coughed and fleck of blood spattered the ground, thus confirming Koiru's belief that he was going to die.

Mizuki tried one last ditch attempt to make her change sides. "He's only protecting you to get the scroll! He hates you like everyone else in this village!"

Koiru's eyes flashed red with anger. Here was her sensei, her brother, on the brink of death, and Mizuki had the gall to insult his character. That was unacceptable.

Koiru's hands became twin blurs of hand seals, and she shouted, "Kage Bushin no Jutsu!" She channeled as much chakra as she could into it, but keeping the flow steady like the scroll had instructed. When she opened her eyes, the clearing was full of dozens and dozens of her. Grinning at her success, she turned to face Mizuki like the rest of them. The look on his face was absolutely priceless. But it didn't make her forget that Iruka was almost definitely dying. Mizuki's screams of terror and pain echoed into the night for several minutes, and Koiru could not bring herself to stop until he was a trembling pile of blood and tears on the forest floor. Then she brought her attention to her sensei.

He was still breathing, though hard, and still conscious, which surprised her.

"Sensei? Are… are you dying?" she asked tentatively, now beginning to suspect she may have overacted. To be fair, there had been a giant shuriken in his spine.

"I don't think so Koiru, but I appreciate the concern. That was quite an impressive jutsu. And… well, I can't believe you did that to Mizuki". Koiru blushed profusely. He stood with some difficulty and walked over to her. "Here, close your eyes". Koiru did as instructed.

When she opened them again, she immediately put her hand up to the unfamiliar object on her forhead. It felt oddly like… but no… had Iruka given her his leaf village headband?

"Um, sensei? Aren't these only supposed to be worn by ninjas?"

"Yes. And what a fine ninja I believe you'll make".

Koiru glowed with pride and hugged her sensei. After a moment, everything that had happened that evening really hit her, and she started sobbing into his vest.

"I think it's time to go see the Hokage," Iruka said soothingly. Koiru only nodded and allowed Iruka to detach himself from her to tie up Mizuki. She practically had to carry them both back to the village, thanks to both of their considerable blood loss. Once there, the two older nin were taken to see the medics, and Koiru was escorted to the Hokage's office.

They sat in a thoughtful silence for a while. Eventually, Koiru couldn't take it anymore.

"…Is it true. Am I… am I what Mizuki said?"

"It's not really as simple as yes or no, Koiru. When the demon fox attacked our village, we were desperate for any way to get rid of it. The Fourth Hokage, a wonderful ninja and a good man, invented a seal that could trap the fox, but only inside a newborn. You were the only candidate. And he sacrificed his life to perform the task. So, yes, the demon fox is sealed inside you. But no, Koiru, _you_ are not the demon fox. You are Uzumaki Koiru, and just because you happen to have a horrible thing inside you, it doesn't mean you are anything but good and talented".

Koiru sat a while to let what the Hokage had said sink in. Eventually, she decided that she agreed, and smiled. She hugged the Hokage, and then left without saying a word. He was satisfied she understood. She was still struggling with a slight sense of unfairness, but she understood everything so much better now. All the worst parts of her life suddenly made sense. So she would take it. She didn't know if this burden would be worse or easier to carry now that she knew what it was, but carry it she would either way.

AN: So yeah, chapter two, sorry it took forever and then sucked! As a few side notes, yes, I had the Third tell Iruka about how similar he and Koiru are back when she started the academy, you know, when it would have been useful. I changed several other little details. And if you're worried about Sakura's little 'girls aren't as strong or fast or smart as boys' thing, don't worry, she changes her mind about the smart thing as she gets older. Also, it's late, so O probably forgot stuff I was gonna put here. Oh well. Hope you enjoyed it.


	3. Chapter 3

A/N: My ending a/n is long and so is this chapter, so let's just jump right in.

If I owned Naruto, Hinata would have better taste in men.

The process of getting through the finishing paperwork and becoming a genin was fairly simple (Old man Hokage had a slight issue with the pose I wanted for my picture, and then his grandson had spectacularly failed to assassinate him, which ended in me smacking him, and him swearing to be a better ninja than me some day - yeah right).

As Koiru entered the classroom the next day for team placement, the other kids immediately began whispering – quite audibly – about why she was there. How they'd heard of her failure to graduate was beyond her. But frankly she was used to this sort of thing by now, so she took a seat near the front and tried to contain her excitement.

However, one of her classmates was a bit more straight forward than the others. "What are you doing here, Koiru? This class is only for people who graduated," Shikamaru asked, blunt as ever.

"I _did_ graduate, Shika. Don't you see the headband?" Koiru retorted, indicating her forehead. The Hokage had, of course, told her that everything to do with the scroll incident was top secret. She would keep her promise not to tell.

As Shikamaru prepared to tell her off for the unwanted nickname, Hinata entered the room and quickly moved to stand beside Koiru. "Koiru! I was so worried! Everyone's been saying you didn't graduate, and I didn't want to believe them, but _everyone_ was saying it and-"

"Hinata! It's ok. I did graduate, or I wouldn't be here. So are you excited for the teams?" Koiru quickly switched the subject, not wanting to lie to her friend, but knowing her promise was more important, and moved over a seat to make room for Hinata.

Before Hinata could gather her thoughts or sit down, a whirl of pink and blonde hair fell face first into the room. Koiru rolled her eyes as the friends-turned-rivals argued about who got to the room first. The argument quickly ended when Sakura noticed Sasuke; Koiru had unwittingly sat at the end of the same row as him, and now sat next to him. Sakura ditched Ino to come and try to shove Koiru out of her seat.

"Watch it!" Koiru said angrily – doubly angry because Sakura had almost barreled over Hinata in her haste.

"_Excuse_ me Koiru, I'm going to sit next to Sasuke," she said, trying to get Sasuke's attention.

Sasuke was doing his utmost to ignore everyone, as usual. Koiru turned to glare at him. What was it with this guy? Why was everyone so obsessed with him? Sasuke finally turned to look at Sakura, but saw Koiru's look and returned it. He obviously tried way too hard to look cool. Why bother if he didn't even want any friends?

"K-Koiru…" Hinata said weakly, failing to inform her friend of how strange she looked glaring lightning into Sasuke's eyes.

"Sasuke-kun? Why are you looking at her like that Sasuke-kun?" Sakura whined.

"Sasuke-kuuuun!" Ino all but yelled as she bulldozed straight into Sakura. Sakura had not been paying much attention, and fell into Koiru's back, and Koiru in turn dominoed right into Sasuke – lips first.

There were a few seconds of shocked silence as everyone in the room went bug eyed, and then Koiru threw herself backwards away from Sasuke, spitting and wiping her mouth on her sleeve. Sasuke tried to literally disappear into himself. Sakura was too angry to speak. Ino, however, said loudly, "KOIRU! YOU STOLE SASUKE'S FIRST KISS! _I_ WANTED TO DO THAT!"

"I don't wanna hear it, Ino! It's your fault for pushing Sakura!"

"Sakura's a clumsy oaf!"

"You shut up, Ino-pig!"

While they went at it yet again, Koiru slinked off to where Hinata had moved, and sat as low in her chair as she could, well aware that her bright red hair made her a target no matter what. "That is the worst thing that's ever happened to me…" she muttered to Hinata, who only gave her a look of severe pity as Iruka had just walked in.

"Alright everyone, settle down. Starting today, you are all official ninja, but you are only genin. It only gets harder from here. You will be put into teams of three and assigned to a jounin team leader," Iruka paused, and Hinata and Koiru exchanged glances and crossed their fingers.

Iruka began announcing numbered teams, until eventually, "In group 7: Uzumaki Koiru-" Koiru gave Iruka her full attention, "Haruno Sakura-" Koiru and Sakura flinched, "and Uchiha Sasuke." Sakura seriously jumped for joy. What the frig. Koiru groaned. Sure, it'd be nice to always know exactly how far behind she was in her mostly imaginary rivalry with Sasuke, but she _knew_ that ninety percent of her life from now would be Sakura fangirling over Sasuke, and she wasn't sure her sanity would survive that.

Hinata looked quite depressed herself. Half out of self pity, half pity for Koiru.

"In group 8: Hyuga Hinata, Inuzuka Kiba, and Aburame Shino," Iruka went on. Hinata looked around and waved nervously to her teammates. Koiru would have pitied her if she hadn't wanted to trade places. Kiba was more of a loudmouth than Koiru, and Shino pretty much refused to talk, so she had no idea what he was like.

"Group 10: Yamanaka Ino, Nara Shikamaru, and Akimichi Choji."

"Lucky Shikamaru…" Hinata muttered. "Maybe not. He still has to deal with Ino…" Koiru replied. At least one person had gotten into a group with a friend though.

"Well, you have your groups. This afternoon each team will meet back here to be collected by your jounin sensei. Class adjourned, and good luck everyone!" Iruka finished, shooing them out the door.

Outside, Koiru dragged Hinata off to catch up with Shikamaru and Choji. "Hey Choji! Shika! Lucky break for you two, huh?" Koiru called. Shikamaru turned around, answering, "Don't call me Shik-" "It's great, isn't it?" Choji interrupted him. "I mean, ah, sorry you two…" he added swiftly.

"It's fine. I can deal with it. I can deal with anything," Koiru said loudly, eliciting a glare from Sakura as she passed.

"My team is ok. Kiba is… nice, and… well I don't know very much about Shino…" Hinata said.

"It'll be great," Koiru said with her best reassuring smile.

"Well we're going to get lunch, so talk to you guys later," Shikamaru said waving, and the two of them walked off.

Hinata still looked a little down. Her father had all but abandoned her at this point. Koiru was one of her very few friends. "Hey, we'll still hang out. We can train together!" Koiru said enthusiastically. She hated it when Hinata said sad. She was all Koiru really had too. "We should eat too. Maybe we could get a snack and then go look for some cool flowers to press?"

Hinata brightened up considerably. Koiru wasn't very interested in botany, but Hinata loved plants, and was always happy when Koiru indulged her.

Koiru was not good at quiet. She didn't really want to talk to either of her teammates, but the awkward silence was killing her. She broke the pattern of her pacing to go stick her head out the door and into the hallway.

"Koiru, why don't you sit still?" Sakura said impatiently.

"Why did it have to be our sensei who's late? Even Iruka ditched us…" Koiru trailed off as she got a wicked idea.

"That's not import- Koiru, what are you doing?!" Sakura looked quite startled.

Koiru hopped of the foot stool. "It's his own fault for being late," she said with an impish grin. Sasuke glared.

"Well, it's your own fault if you get into trouble," Sakura said, but there was the shadow of a grin on her face. Maybe being on a team with her wouldn't be so bad after all.

"A jounin ninja isn't going to fall for that," Sasuke muttered.

"Yeah, Koiru-" Sakura started, eager to agree with Sasuke, but she was interrupted by someone's hand gripping the door and pulling it open and – plonk. The chalk board eraser landed smack on the man's head, getting dust everywhere, before bouncing to the floor.

Koiru burst out laughing. She couldn't help it. That was _priceless. _

Sakura panicked. "I'm so sorry, Sensei! I tried to stop her, she just doesn't listen!"

Sasuke sat perfectly still, giving the man a look that clearly stated he was unimpressed.

After picking up the eraser, the man said, "How should I say this. My first impression of you… I hate you."

Koiru and the others all sagged slightly. She hadn't meant any harm by it. It was just a stupid prank…

"Well don't just stand there. Follow me," he continued, turning to leave. He lead them to a rooftop and told them to sit facing them. "Now, I want you to introduce yourselves. Tell me… what you like, hate, your dreams, and your hobbies."

They exchanged glances.

"Why don't you go first, sensei?" Koiru asked, buying time to think.

"Me? I'm Hatake Kakashi. And… that's really all I feel like telling you. Your turn. You first," he indicated Koiru.

She put on her biggest beam. "I'm Uzumaki Koiru. I like ramen, but I hate how long you have to wait for it to cook. My hobbies are comparing different types of ramen and training with my best friend. And my dream is to become the first female Hokage and make sure everyone knows what kind of person I am!"

Kakashi continued to stare at her blankly for a moment, then turned his attention to Sakura. "Alright, next?"

"I'm Haruno Sakura! And I like… well…" she glanced at Sasuke, "And my dream is…" she glanced at Sasuke. And kept glancing at Sasuke. Who ignored her.

"And what do you hate?"

"Koiru," she answered without pause.

Koiru made a melodramatic face. "So harsh…"

Kakashi looked even more bored. "And you?"

"My name is Uchiha Sasuke. I hate a lot of things and there are very few things I like. My goal is to revive my clan and… to kill a certain man."

Koiru and Sakura gave Sasuke frightened looks. Kakashi might have been falling asleep.

"Good. You all have unique personalities. We're going to start a mission tomorrow-"

Koiru cut him off. "What kind of mission?! Uh, sir?" she saluted.

"Survival training," he answered impassively.

"Why are we going to train if it's a mission?" Sakura asked. "We've had plenty of training at the academy…"

"This is no ordinary training," Kakashi paused to giggle rather disturbingly. "Out of the twenty-seven graduates, only nine are going to become genin. The rest are going back to the academy. So this will be a very hard test."

"What?! But I went through so much trouble! What was the final exam for then?!"

Kakashi ignored her outburst. "Meet me tomorrow at the training grounds at 5a.m. I will be deciding whether you pass or fail. Bring your ninja gear. Oh, and don't eat breakfast unless you want to throw up. Meeting over," and he poofed away.

"What a total jerk!" Koiru and Sakura shouted together.

Koiru let out a quiet sob as her stomach rumbled loudly. Again. That miso ramen in her cupboard had looked soooo gooood this morning – but she had refrained. And she hated herself for it. No. She hated _him_ for it. Kakashi was officially an asshole. He would be hard put to redeem himself in her eyes. Not, she was certain, that he cared. He was a proper ninja. They were kids.

She sniffled.

"Will you STOP WHINING!" Sakura shouted, having had quite enough. Her point was punctuated by her own stomach rumbling. Koiru was not the only one suffering.

"You two are weak," Sasuke finally piped up. Unfortunately for him, it was then that his stomach growled.

"Look who's talking, Sasuke," Koiru replied, sticking her tongue out. The wind sweeping the undergrowth in the forest caught her eye. "I wonder how grass tastes…"

Finally, hours later than he'd said, Kakashi walked up. Slowly. Nonchalantly. "Good morning," he said.

"YOU'RE LATE!" Koiru and Sakura shouted in unison.

"Well, a black cat crossed my path, so I had to…" He saw the looks on their faces and stopped his excuse short. "Right. This timer," he pulled out a timer and set it on a rock, "is set to go off at noon. Your goal today is to get one of these bells from me. Whoever can't doesn't get to eat lunch. I will tie you to a post and eat in front of you."

The three kids sagged beneath the weight of his trickery.

"Sensei… why are there only two bells?" Sakura asked.

"So that one of you _has_ to be tied up. That person will have failed the assignment and go back to the academy. You will have to use everything you have – aim to kill me or you have no hope. We'll start when I say."

Koiru slipped a kunai out of her pocket as sneakily as she could.

"Ready? START!"

Koiru let out a war cry and charged. But Kakashi wasn't there anymore.

"Shit! How are any of us supposed to defeat a jounin?" she asked turning to look at her teammates – but they weren't there either. "Oh…" she stood for a moment longer feeling foolish, then also disappeared into the trees.

But only long enough to find her prey. He stood out in the open on a river bank, eyeing the surrounding foliage. Koiru jumped down in front of him.

"Alright, I'm ready to see what you're made of. Let's have a match, just you and me!"

"… You're a little weird, aren't you?" he asked.

"Your hair's weird!" she retorted. That was a stupid thing to say. Why had she said that. Koiru regretted it immediately. In her defense, his hair's apparent ability to defy gravity had been bothering her.

To cover her embarrassing statement, she fell back onto some embarrassing tactics and charged. Only to stop a second later when he reached into his ninja pouch.

"Lesson number one: taijutsu," he said, pulling out… a book. Labeled Icha Icha Paradise. Koiru stared. "Well? Come and get me."

"But… why are you reading… WHY ARE YOU READING DURING OUR BATTLE?!" Koiru continued her charge, _really_ angry now. He didn't even bother to dodge her first punch, just stopped it, then ducked under a high kick, then dodging several more knees and elbows. All while reading. And suddenly he was behind her in a crouch.

"Never let the enemy get behind you, Koiru," he said calmly.

"Huh?" she replied eloquently.

"Koiru, move! You're gonna die!" she heard Sakura scream from some distance. She turned her head to look behind her. Too late.

"ONE THOUSAND YEARS OF PAIN!" Kakashi shouted, before performing the most over dramatic kancho Koiru would ever take part in. Probably.

Everything was pain. Koiru flew into the air and landed with a splash in the river.

'This is the most embarrassing thing that's ever happened to me. Must… recover…' Koiru thought as she sank. She eventually dragged herself out onto the shore. Kakashi was waiting.

"Well? Don't you want lunch? I thought you were going to be the hokage? At this rate…"

"I'm too hungry to fight!" Koiru whined.

Kakashi walked away, still reading.

"Don't you ignore me! I'll get one of those bells no matter what! Damnit…" she trailed off. He was clearly not paying her any mind. So she got a wicked idea. Seven of her charged out of the river, all yelling battle cries.

Kakashi turned back and his eyes widened. He still looked unimpressed though. Good, that's how she wanted it to be. Not yet… not yet… now! Her charging clones were just a few feet away, when her sneaking clone grabbed him from behind. _Now_ he looked surprised.

The rest of her tacked him, while the real her went for a good old fashioned face punch. Her fist flew through the air and she put all her strength behind it. Her knuckles connected… with her own face.

"Eh?" she narrowed her eyes. Alright, where'd Kakashi go? She thought a moment. Then undid the shadow clones. She was alone. "Damnit…" a glimmer on the ground caught her eyes. A bell! How could he have dropped it? She had to grab it before he came back for it.

She ran to it, saw the rope on the ground too late, and was suddenly upside down hanging by her ankle from a tree branch. "DAMNIT!"

And the bell was lying there, just out of her reach. Taunting. She considered trying to stretch for it, when Kakashi's hand closed over it.

"_Think_ before you charge. Use your techniques more cleverly. And… don't fall for obvious traps," he stated. Insult to injury. "You don't think outside the box, and your movements have unnecessary showiness. You're so- oh," he got cut off by half a dozen kunai battering him from the left.

Koiru gasped. Blood arched gracefully after his body as it got flung to the ground… but before it hit, there was a burst of smoke, and where Kakashi had been was… a log. Full of kunai. It clattered to the ground.

Koiru was alone. She dug a kunai out of her pouch and set about cutting herself free. "Don't fall for obvious traps Koiru, you're so stupid Koiru, blah blah blah," she muttered as she cut herself free. But then, as her feet touched the ground, a second rope grabbed her ankle yet again. "AUGH!"

That was stupid. How could she fall for that twice? Okay, okay, she needed to calm down. Just hang there and think a minute. …was that food? She squinted at the rock in the distance. Those definitely looked like bento boxes.

Screw the rules, I'm a demon fox.

Koiru cut herself down, careful to avoid any further possible embarrassment, and made her way to the engraved rock. She wondered vaguely what it was for, but the issue of the food was far more pressing. She knew if she could just eat, even a little, she'd do so much better with this whole bell thing.

She popped open the lid to a box, got out the chopsticks, and-

"Hey," came Kakashi's low voice from behind her.

"I, uh… this isn't what it looks like," she said weakly.

In a few short moments, he had Koiru tied to a post. She hadn't had even the slightest hope of keeping up with him. How were three lousy genin supposed to steal something from a freaking jounin anyways? Her stomach rumbled loudly. Ugh. Who cares. All she could think about was food.

The timer went off, and a few minutes later Sasuke and Sakura appeared to sit on either side of Koiru's post, each looking utterly defeated. Their stomachs rumbled in unison.

"Hungry, eh?" Kakashi mocked. "Anyways, I've decided none of you need to return to the academy."

The three looked up, hopeful, thoughts of lunch momentarily gone.

"Yep. You should all just quit being ninja."

Their faces fell. Sakura looked to be on the verge of tears. Koiru and Sasuke glared. "Why? Because we couldn't get a bell? None of us stood a chance against you! Anyways, on a normal mission we wouldn't be half starved!"

"Wouldn't you? How do you know what might happen to you on a real mission? You're just kids. You don't even deserve to be ninja," Kakashi said. He sounded almost bored.

Sasuke couldn't take that blow to his ego. He charged recklessly, and Kakashi had him on the ground in seconds flat, his head pressed between the dirt and Kakashi's shoe. "Just kids," Kakashi continued. "You think being a ninja is easy? Why do you think we train you in groups?"

His question received only blank stares. Koiru's stomach rumbled once again.

"Teamwork," he answered himself.

"So then the number of bells was a trick?" Sakura asked. Koiru blinked in surprise. That had not occurred to her.

"Yes. You were supposed to put teamwork before individual goals. You were supposed to be smart enough to realize that was the only way to beat me at your level. But you were selfish. Real missions are done in groups. Individual talent is used to benefit the whole team. Otherwise people get killed," Kakashi paused to go to the engraved rock.

"Look at this. Look at all these names. Every one is the name of a hero from this village."

"I'll have my name on there someday. I will be a hero!" Koiru spoke up defiantly. She did not take kindly to being told to give up.

"Oh, but they are not normal heroes," Kakashi continued, a harder note to his voice now. It made everyone pause. "These heroes were killed in action."

Koiru flushed slightly as her face fell. Way to be _fucking depressing_ Kakashi.

"This is a cenotaph. The names of many of my friends are carved here." After a reverent silence, Kakashi turns around and says seriously, "I will give you one more chance. But the battle will be much harsher after you've eaten. Do not eat unless you are up for it. And Koiru is still not allowed to eat."

Koiru felt tears welling up in her eyes. So. Hungry.

"It's her punishment for breaking the rules of the test. If anyone feeds her, that person immediately fails. Understood?"

Koiru was trying her best not to bawl. Sakura and Sasuke looked upset about it as well, but nodded. Kakashi walked away.

While her teammates got out the food and began eating, Koiru curled into a fetal position – as best she could being tied to a post. They both gave her a look. "Don't worry about me, guys. I'll be fine," she said with what she hoped was a reassuring smile. Her stomach made the most pathetic whining noise. She resisted the urge to moan in pain.

Sasuke sighed. Then held his bento box out to her. "Here." Koiru opened her mouth to protest, but only managed to drool.

"But Sasuke, sensei just said..." Sakura piped up, looking around in worry.

"I can't sense him nearby. There's no way for him to know," Sasuke replied. "We have to get those bells, we have to do it together, and there's no way we will if she's not at full strength."

"Sasuke-kun…" Sakura muttered, staring down at her food. Then she shoved her own food at Koiru, who could only ogle. "Sakura-chan?" she said weakly. And they smiled.

"Hurry up, we don't know when he'll be back," Sasuke muttered.

"Oh, but… I'm tied up…"

Sakura's smile melted into a glare in a second. As she stood and offered a bite to Koiru, she said, "Do not ever speak of this to anyone."

Koiru nodded weakly and promptly swallowed the rice whole.

And just like that, it was like a small explosion. Dust and smoke were everywhere, blowing in every direction.

"YOU THREE!" Kakashi's voice rang out from the center of his unnecessarily dramatic entrance. The three kids were rightfully terrified. "You broke the rule! Are you prepared for the punishment?!"

As he started making handseals, Koiru broke under the unfairness of it all.

"But… but sensei! You said… that's why they…" she faltered under his glare.

But Sasuke spoke up for her. "We're a team, right?" he asked defiantly.

Inspired by Saskue, Sakura chipped in. "Yeah! We three are one!"

Though they were all still terrified, they were determined. Koiru glanced gratefully at each of her teammates.

"You three are one, huh?" Kakashi asked in a low voice, stepping slowly towards them. He leaned in. They did not flinch. Suddenly he smiled widely enough to be seen even through his mask. "You pass!"

"What?" Koiru asked, not daring to believe.

"You pass."

"But… why?" Sakura asked.

"Because, rather than blindly following my orders that would have lead to your failure, you did what was best for the team. A ninja who doesn't follow the rules is scum. But a ninja who abandons their comrades is even worse."

Even Sasuke managed a smile at that.

"Consider today's training over. Team 7 will start missions tomorrow," Kakashi said happily, giving them all thumbs up.

"Hai!" they chorused.

"So… so does someone want to untie me now?" Koiru asked sheepishly.

Kakashi cut her down, and they all had a fairly awkward farewell. But Koiru was suddenly not so disheartened by the team she'd been put into.

A/N: Alright guys, sorry this was such a long one, but now I have a few questions. This has way more fans than I had expected (which is to say any), especially considering it only had two chapters and there has been at least a year between each of the updates ^^; ANYWAYS. My first srs bsns question is, do you like how I did this? The first two chapters were predominantly exposition, with this one being episodes 2-5 all in one. Did you enjoy it? Was it too line-for-line from the show, or has it been long enough that you don't mind the refresher? Would you prefer more of a highlights reel, less of what was in the show, and more of the stuff you don't see, like training alone, or hanging out with Hinata? Let me know! I intend to start updating this way more frequently. I hope. _;

My second question is more fun though! I am, always and forever, taking suggestions for pairings. Not just for Koiru, but for any of the characters. There are some pairings that are pretty much set in stone in my headcannon, but I'm not going to pretend a good argument couldn't change my mind. Particularly opinions for Hinata and Sasuke, as they will both feature fairly prominently in this story, but also any ships you feel strongly about. Don't forget to put why ^_^ (Also, as the story goes on, suggestions for anyone Koiru gets close to, either as 'family', friends, or competition).

And for the final order of business, I've decided to make a tumblr for my fanfiction because quite frankly I hate the interface on this website. That will be at .com so follow there for more frequent, or at least more happy, updates.

Anyways, hope you enjoyed, and thank you for taking the time to read.


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